1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light emitting device and, particularly, to a light emitting device employing a semiconductor laser chip.
2. Description of the Related Art
A light source is conventionally known, which is adapted to generate white light by exciting a fluorescent material contained in a transparent resin by a light emitting diode (LED) (see, for example, Japanese Patent No. 2927279 (0017)-(0018)).
In recent years, such light sources employing a LED have been employed instead of conventional light bulbs for traffic lights and indicators on instrument panels. Further, the light sources have been employed for domestic lighting apparatuses (e.g., desk lights).
A LED chip generally has an output capacity of several milliwatts to 10 mW at the maximum and, hence, has difficulty in providing a high output. On the other hand, a semiconductor laser chip has a higher output capacity on the order of 30 to 50 mW. However, the semiconductor laser chip emits a highly coherent light beam with even phases and, hence, is deleterious to human eyes. Therefore, it is difficult to employ the semiconductor laser chip as an ordinary light source.